CCNote: This was written as a belated Christmas present to Kiljoius. Her prompt was "No, I'm not dating your brother." She gave me free reign to do whatever I want with just that line. Honestly I ended up with too many ideas but this one stuck in my brain and wouldn't let go. The idea is that all people are just six or fewer degrees of separation away from each other. This story is AU and meant to be a fun time. If you liked 'A is for Uchiha' you would like this. If this little drabble has enough interest, who knows, maybe I'll make it into a full story! Honestly I wasn't planning on it being 6k words but clearly there's a lot of material to work with here. Things move a little faster than I normally do it but it was a fun challenge to do a short story! Happy New Year Kiljoius and without further ado, enjoy!

Six Degrees of Separation

First Degree

In Dante's Inferno, he depicted the nine circles of hell. A level for those who committed the worst atrocities while in the world of the living, forever doomed to an eternity of punishment in hell. Eternal fire. A frozen wasteland. A thirst that could never be quenched. It was a cautionary tale to live an upstanding life so one wasn't damned to misery. Unfortunately- or fortunately, depending on how one thought about it- Dante had never experienced a unique phenomenon known to modern man-

HONK!

"Move! I'm going to be late for work!"

"Mommy I don't wanna go to school!"

HONK HONK!

Hinata stared straight ahead, her fingers tightening around the steering wheel. She had to keep it together. She couldn't let herself be overwhelmed so early in the morning.

"One car at a time! Come to a stop!"

HONK HONK!

"Oh Mrs. Yamada, I need to speak with you about Mina. She has way too much homework and I-"

'Breathe in.' Hinata thought. 'Breathe out.'

She would not be bested by the elementary school drop-off line this morning. She was a fully grown adult and wouldn't let her kids see her lose her cool. They had been through enough already.

'Breathe in. Breathe out.'

Just as her therapist taught her, taking a few deep breaths in a stressful situation could solve almost anything. She glanced back at her children in her rearview mirror. Boruto was trying to catch a few last winks of sleep. His arms were folded over his chest tightly and his mouth slightly agape. Beside him, Himawari kicked her feet excitedly in her booster seat. There was nothing better than kindergarten. Hinata took another deep breath and on the exhale they had finally made it to the front of the line. As soon as the car pulled up, Boruto automatically roused himself from his nap and began unbuckling Himawari as he'd done a hundred times before.

"Don't forget your lunch!" Hinata reminded and Boruto rolled his eyes.

"I'm not a baby mom!"

"I know, I know. You're growing up fast."

"I'm not a baby either!" Himawari chirped as she climbed over the seat to kiss Hinata's cheek.

The dark-haired woman smiled. They would always be her babies even if they didn't want to be treated like one.

"Have a good da-"she started but the pair had already slammed the car door shut.

Her smile dropped as she watched them scamper away and into the school. Not a single look back. She sighed. They were growing up way too fast. She only had herself to blame for that. Ever since the divorce was finalized it was like her children had grown mentally beyond their years in an effort not to burden her. They weren't a burden. She wished they understood that the separation had nothing to do with them.

She took another deep breath and prepared to move up to leave the crowded parking lot but just as she pressed the gas, a shiny black Range Rover slid right in front of her. She barely had time to press the break before she rammed into the back of them. Her car jerked forward as she came to a complete stop, her forehead hitting the top of the steering wheel. At that moment, her phone began to ring the most ridiculous ringtone courtesy of an obnoxious younger sister.

Yo, I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want

"What the- "she exclaimed, quickly scanning the back of the car to ensure she hadn't hit it.

So tell me what you want, what you really really want

Out of the Range Rover popped a small, dark-haired girl with red glasses. She didn't even wave bye to the obnoxious one driving her. Instead she slammed the door closed and marched up to the school. Clearly they were having a rough morning but that didn't mean they could cut in the car lane.

I wanna, I wanna, I wanna

It had taken over thirty minutes for her to even make it to this point. What right did they have to just cut in front?! She could feel her anger boil up as the cars behind her honked for her to pull forward. She couldn't because there was a jerk in the way! For the first time ever she considered using her horn to beep at the line cutter but just as she was ready to press it, they peeled away.

I wanna really, really, really wanna zigazig ah!

Her phone stopped ringing in less than a second, only to start up again. Hanabi's face flashed over the screen. Smiling. Mocking her. She wanted to chuck the phone out of the window. She wanted to chase down that jerk driver and explain to them drop off etiquette.

'Breathe in. Breathe out.'

She wanted to curl up in a ball and cry because waiting for her at home was a mountain of more work that she didn't have time to complete. There were bills due and her ex still hadn't sent her his child support payment for the month.

'Breathe in. Breathe out.'

She only had a second to gather herself before a teacher in a bright yellow vest tapped on her driver-side window. The woman's tight smile was friendly as she directed Hinata to continue driving. She was holding up traffic. Hinata felt her face burn as she did as instructed. Today was not going to be a good one.

Second Degree

The notification from his phone was innocent. Innocuous. Just a tiny ping of a calendar reminder letting him know it was the first of the month. Naruto groaned as he picked his phone up. He already knew what was there, but by force of habit, he looked anyway. Child support was due. He slid a tired hand over his face and back through his hair. It wasn't that he had a problem supporting his family financially. It was the right thing to do since he couldn't be there physically or even emotionally most days. The issue was that two kids was too damn expensive.

He couldn't fault Hinata for putting him on child support. He was forgetful, so sending money of his own volition had initially made their co-parenting situation very rocky. Raising two kids costs a lot of money and the court saw fit that he paid his fair share since she certainly didn't make enough on her own.

He placed his phone on his desk and leaned back in his chair to stare at the ceiling. How long had it been? Mentally we worked back from how old Himawari was…five. Six maybe? She was just a tiny infant screaming when he'd left that day. Guiltily he remembered kissing Hinata goodbye as Boruto made a mess at their feet. A mess that Hinata was going to have to clean up alone as she did every day. He wasn't sure what the last straw was that pushed her over the edge to ask for a divorce, but when she did, he was grateful. At twenty-five he might have been an adult but he wasn't ready to handle adult responsibilities. At thirty-one he still wasn't sure if he was ready. In any case, he was still responsible for getting this money to Hinata on time. He couldn't be late like last month or her asshole cousin would never let him hear the end of it.

It had been five years since the divorce had been finalized. He would have thought she would have gotten a better job by now. At least that way she shouldn't have to sick Neji on him. Or if she met someone, the burden wouldn't all be on her. Wait…that was it! A light bulb went off in the financially strapped blonde's head. All he needed to do was get Hinata to go out on a date and then this child support business would disappear! Man he was a genius!

Just as he was internally patting himself on the back, the door to his office opened without so much as a knock. Naruto stopped his self-congratulations to glare at the only man in the office who would dare to do such a thing. A man who was also late.

"You're late Sasuke." He said, trying to make himself sound stern but it was hard. He honestly couldn't even pretend to be mad at his best friend. "Itachi keep you up all night again? If you got your own place you might be able to get some sleep for once."

Though his face was impassive at the jab Naruto swore he saw the raven's eye twitch. It was a

small victory to get under his skin but a victory nonetheless.

"Sakura forgot to take Sarada to school and no one knows how to drive these days." He said flatly, but his fists clenched at his side.

"I'm sure the world's drivers are fine. You're just extra grouchy in the morning." Naruto smiled.

"Now why did Sakura forget to take Sarada to school? Is she dating again-"

"I just came to tell you the agenda for today is ready. Check your email because I know you haven't."

With that he marched out of the office, indignant as always especially when his ex-wife was brought up. Naruto pouted as he moved his mouse around to awaken his computer. Sasuke was such a grouch in the morning. Maybe if he didn't have his hand or a random hook-up to wake up to in the morning he would be more tolerable- that's it! Two birds one stone! Man, he was seriously on a roll this morning with these ideas! Agenda email forgotten, he reached for his phone and dialed Hinata's number.

"Hello?"

Naruto frowned. She sounded genuinely surprised to hear from him.

"Hey Hina! How are you doing this morning?"

"I… I'm fine…is something wrong?"

Did something have to be wrong for him to call?

"Nothing's wrong. Promise! Hey are you busy this weekend?"

"Why?"

"There's someone I'd like you to meet." He said, easing into his true reason for calling. "He's a real upstanding guy. Smart. Ya know-"

"Naruto…are…are you trying to set me up on a blind date?"

She sounded almost insulted which was precisely how he didn't want this conversation to go.

"No, it wouldn't be a blind date per se. I could send you his picture. Plenty of people think he's handsome!"

"I'm sorry but no."

"He's super responsible! I think you'd like him."

"Naruto-"

"He's a really good guy so just give him a chance Hina. You never got a chance to meet him but we go waaay back. He's like a brother to me-"

"I am not dating your 'brother'." She snapped before hanging up the phone.

She hadn't yelled. She hadn't cursed. Yet her tone held a finality to it just like the day she asked for a divorce. He didn't even have time to process her rejection before Sasuke poked his head back into the office, his brow furrowed with frustration.

"You still haven't read my email. Get on it."

"Okay! Okay!" Naruto groaned, his hands up in surrender.

Why the hell was everyone so testy today?

Third Degree

One thing for certain and two things for sure, Hanabi was miffed. She narrowed her eyes at her phone for the hundredth time as if she could will her sister to call if she did it long enough. It wasn't like she had anything better to do since she worked from home. Boruto and Himawari should be in school right now, so there was no reason for Hinata not to answer.

Dejected, she observed the mess in front of her. Textbooks stacked high. Her hastily scrawled notes to one side…a dying laptop on the other. She had burned through at least three pens and her favorite pencil was nearly a nub. Why the hell did she think it was a good idea to get a Master's Degree? She hated school and she hated her thesis even more. She had been researching and typing and researching and typing and writing and reading and researching- The heavens knew she was sick of it, and she was one step away from dropping out of the program altogether.

Hinata was the only one able to talk her off the ledge at times like this. Whatever tied her up was nowhere near as important right now! Squeezing her eyes shut, she laid her head down on the table with a groan. The cold plywood of the library tables was becoming all too familiar these days. Maybe she could speak with her advisor? She could go apply for the non-thesis track. As soon as the thought entered her mind she pushed it away. She had come too far to give up now.

"Is anyone sitting here?"

Hanabi rolled her eyes but kept her head down. This intruder was just going to have to find his own personal purgatory. Couldn't he see she was wallowing? Besides didn't he know this was the busiest time at the library? You have to get here early to get a free table!

"I promise I won't take up too much space."

Now irritated, Hanabi sat up to tell the interloper to find his own damn table. Unfortunately, her dismissal died the minute she set eyes on him. Tall, dark and handsome. Disheveled in the best way, as if he'd stayed up all night studying and had just rolled out of bed. Those dark circles under his eyes told of many sleepless nights but didn't detract from his visage. Taking her silence as permission, he sat down and her heart skipped a beat. All thoughts of dropping out of school or ranting to her sister vanished. In their place was the sound of her own heart threatening to jump out of her chest.

He placed the giant stack of papers he was holding in an empty space and didn't spare her a glance as he started to work. His brow creased within seconds of reading the first few lines before he began rummaging through his bag. Coming up empty, he finally turned to her with a slight smirk.

"I guess I need to ask you for more than just a seat at this table." He said. "Do you have an extra pen? Preferably red."

His voice snapped her back to attention and she felt her face heat up from embarrassment. She was too old to swoon over a man she just met, no matter how handsome he was! Mechanically she opened her own pencil pouch and found a red pen as requested. When she handed it over, his fingers lightly brushed against hers, sending a shiver down her spine. He seemed to a have felt something as well because his attention didn't immediately return to his work. Now that she had her wits about her she had to seize this opportunity. It wasn't every day that a guy like this dropped out of the sky. Thesis be damned!

"What's your name?" She said, or more so blurted out. Her face grew redder as his small smile spread wider.

"Itachi."

Quickly. She had to think of something not stupid to say! She glanced at his stack of papers.

"You teach?"

"God no." he chuckled. "If it was up to me all of the undergrads in this class would fail. I'm just helping out a friend."

That was odd. Nice but odd.

"So you don't go to school here?"

"I do, I'm a doctoral candidate."

He'd barely finished speaking before her jaw was on the floor. Was he seriously pursuing his Ph.D.? She could scarcely find the will to complete her Masters!

"And you?"

"I'm working on my thesis for my master's program but… I'm not making much headway." She said shamefully.

"I remember those days. It doesn't get any easier."

"Yeah…before you came, I was ready to rip everything up and just drop out."

"My, do I really have that effect?" he teased and Hanabi felt herself slip out of awe and back into her normal state.

"Don't flatter yourself too much."

"Too late."

…

Hours spent in the library semi-working melted into a conversation that never ended. When the library closed its doors for the night, neither seemed inclined to go home just yet. It was only eleven and the night was still young.

The bar was loud and filled with smoke. The tables were sticky and the floor had likely never seen water unless it got accidentally spilled. Still, there was nowhere she'd rather be than here. Or maybe that was just the alcohol talking.

"Favorite ice cream?"

"Chocolate."

They both took a sip of their drinks. Interesting. She never expected a guy like Itachi to be into something so sweet.

"Favorite animal?"

"Crows."

This time only Itachi had to drink but he already had the cup to his lips. Hanabi laughed.

"That's so weird!"

"You laugh now but crows are incredibly intelligent."

"Okay weirdo." She giggled as he drank. "Your turn."

"Siblings?"

"One."

At this, Itachi smiled, and they both finished their glasses. The bartender made his way over quickly to give another round of beer. The more his patrons drank the more they tipped. When the next, fresh round of beer arrived Hanabi took a sip of the foam right off the top. They were already three rounds deep and she was starting to feel the effects of liquid courage.

"In a relationship?" she asked, her grip unconsciously tightening around her drink in anticipation.

Perhaps it was a trick of the light but his impossibly dark eyes grew darker. He leaned in as if to kiss her and her body moved towards him, drawn like a magnet. Unfortunately he bypassed her lips and instead came closer to her ear. There, he pushed a bit of loose brown hair behind her ear. His fingertips left sparks in their wake.

"Single."

Fourth Degree

Despite how much he'd drank the night before, Itachi didn't feel hungover. For the first time in weeks, he'd slept through the night in a bed and not glued to his keyboard. He'd have to give credit to his reprieve from insomnia to the woman who shared his bed last night…and this morning. He grinned as he poured himself a cup of hot coffee. He would have made enough for two but said woman had already escaped him for the day. She said she had plans with her sister that could not be missed but promised to text.

He glanced at his phone. It had only been fifteen minutes since her departure. Why was he already checking his phone? He looked at his phone again and felt a slight pang of disappointment when there was nothing there. Scoffing to himself, he flipped the phone over to be face down. Hopefully that would eliminate the urge to check again.

Confident in his willpower, the man leaned against the counter and blew cool air over his coffee. As he took a sip, a very grumpy Sasuke meandered into the kitchen. Every move he made was short, angry. He barely designed Itachi a glare as he moved past him for the coffee pot. Upon finding it empty he grumbled curses under his breath.

"What's up?" Itachi asked.

"Nothing." He snapped and Itachi raised his eyebrows skeptically. "I just couldn't get any sleep last night due to a certain someone."

"I didn't bother you with my ideas so that's not my fault."

"You bother me in many, many other ways."

"You're certainly in a bad mood this morning."

"Its not morning." Sasuke growled angrily, turning on the sink faucet to fill the coffee pot. "It's one in the afternoon but I'm honestly not surprised you didn't realize that."

Itachi looked over at the clock on the stove, a bit taken aback by how much of the day had already passed him. He shrugged and took another sip of coffee. Even though he still had a mountain of work to do, yesterday was a welcome break from the monotony. In fact, he felt a renewed vigor to edit his dissertation- a task he'd been putting off for a while.

"Next time can you keep it down?" Sasuke asked and Itachi cocked his head to the side, confused.

"Keep what down?"

"You know-that."

He paused momentarily, genuinely confused at what his brother was getting at, before it finally clicked. He smirked devilishly over his coffee.

"No." he chuckled as Sasuke let the water overrun the coffee pot. "This is my house and I couldn't possibly ask a guest to keep it down. That would be…rude."

"Itachi-"

"Consider it payback for all the girls you snuck into the house in high school and I had to cover for you. Mom still thinks I'm forever alone because I was too much of a playboy."

"Are you serious? That was well over ten years ago and you can't blame me for your bad luck bastard!"

"That's 'big brother bastard' to you." He said as he sipped from his mug.

The warm caffeine tasted even better with the irritated look on Sasuke's face as he finally shut off the water. It wasn't Sasuke's fault that Sakura sold their house behind his back and emptied his bank account. Well, in a way it was because Itachi told him not to marry that girl but he'd been too stubborn at the time to listen. He felt sorry for his brother, he really did but he wasn't entirely without fault in this situation. Their divorce was one of the messiest he'd ever had the misfortune of witnessing but at least he got the cutest niece in the world out of their entanglement. In any case, so long as Sasuke continued to live here rent-free he would have to get used to the 'noise'.

"Just a heads up, my guest will probably be over a lot more often."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and scoffed.

"Your 'guest'?" he said. "Do you even know her name?"

At this Itachi paused. He racked his brain for the memory of her saying her name but nothing came up. He could remember her smiling at him. Her eyes sparkled as she talked about something that excited her. The way she bit her lip when deep in thought. Yet no name came immediately to mind.

Hina…Hana maybe?

He'd always been bad with names. In any case he had plenty of time to learn it so long as she texted him back. He looked over at his phone and wondered fleetingly if she actually would.

Fifth Degree

"Oh my god Hinata! You wouldn't believe it!"

Honestly she could. Hanabi had always been an act-first and think-later kinda person. It wasn't far-fetched to imagine that she decided to have a one-night stand with a man she barely knew. Hinata partly blamed herself. She should have just answered her phone that day and then all of this could have been avoided. Or, at the very least, she wouldn't have to hear her sister describe their encounters ad nauseam. It wasn't that she was a prude, but she hadn't seen a naked man in over five years, and she certainly didn't want to hear about one secondhand.

"And man, he really surprised me in the morning. I-"

"I'm glad you had a good time, Hanabi, but I really don't want to know more."

Hanabi huffed and rolled her eyes.

"I had to listen to you talk about that dumb blonde for years."

Hinata blushed, admonished by her sister's critique. It was true that she had made her one-sided crush on her ex-husband everyone's problem for years until she had the courage to confess. After getting together Naruto was still her top topic of conversation. It was fun when their marriage had been going great, but over time, there were more tears and fewer laughs.

Hanabi had been there for it all. A listening ear and a shoulder to cry on. Hinata felt guilty for relying so heavily on her younger sister for so many years but Hanabi hadn't complained… well not too much. If she had a gripe it was always that she felt Hinata deserved better. Hinata smiled and took both of Hanabi's hands in hers.

"You're right. I'm all ears."

"I'm serious about this one Hinata. Its only been a few weeks but I swear it feels like I've known him forever. I'm even thinking of telling Neji."

Hinata forced a smile as Hanabi prattled on. Telling their cousin was a huge step. That meant she was actually serious about this man. While she was happy to see Hanabi happy, she hoped her sister wasn't rushing into anything. Though she can't really point to taking things slow as better. She'd loved her husband for fifteen years before everything crumbled around her. Speaking of which, said husband was still trying to hook her up with his so-called best friend and it put a bad taste in her mouth. The other day he'd just sent her a picture of the back of this guy's head like it was a selling point. Hinata shivered and shook away the image.

"Are you serious about him Hana?" she asked and Hanabi nodded firmly.

"He's so smart and I think you two would really get along. I can't wait for you to meet him!"

"Well before you tell Neji, let me meet him. We don't want to scare him off."

At this the sisters laughed. Even though Neji had a little family of his own to look after he still found the time to be overprotective of his cousins. In the moment it could be humiliating but the memories were hilarious.

"Okay, okay!" Hanabi said between laughter. "I'll text him and see if we can set something up soon. I could even see if we could meet his brother as well. Two birds, one stone."

"Sounds like a plan." Hinata agreed as Hanabi pulled out her phone. She was about to begin texting when a mischievous grin spread over her face.

"His brother is really handsome. I've seen a picture and he could pass for a model. I think his name is Sasuke."

"So?"

"He's single!"

The dots clicked together and Hinata immediately shook his head.

"No, absolutely not-"

"But Hinata-"

"I have no interest in dating right now. I'm way too busy with the kids."

She especially didn't want to date someone her sister recommended. As much as she loved Hanabi she would never trust her taste in men.

"Mama! Mama!"

At Himawari's shouting from down the hall, Hanabi immediately stopped her recounting. Hinata let out a sigh of relief as her daughter padded into the room unaware. Her relief was short-lived as Himawari came in with a puffy red face and eyes full of tears. She immediately threw herself into Hinata's legs, burying her face in the woman's legs.

Startled, Hinata patted her head as she blubbered on incoherently. She didn't even have time to calm her down before Boruto and his friend Sarada raced into the room, each child carrying half a teddy bear in their hands. The cotton of the poor bear spilled out as they ran and the noise in the room increased from the two arguing. Fingers were being pointed and accusations were thrown. It was all Hinata could do to keep her wits about her. Beside her Hanabi had plugged her fingers in her ears to drown out the noise.

"Silence please!" Hinata commanded, her voice barely able to be heard over the din.

Himawari's crying lowered to a whimper while her son and his friend swallowed their protests. Boruto stubbornly crossed his arms and dropped his half of the teddy bear while Sarada at least had enough sense to look guilty.

"Sorry Ms. Hinata." She mumbled. "We were trying to share but Bortuo was playing too rough."

"Was not!" Boruto shouted.

"Were too-"

"Enough!"

The kids fell silent again. She enjoyed having Sarada over. She was a sweet girl and Hinata felt an innate need to protect her. Her mom had practically dropped the girl in her lap this morning without much of a goodbye since her hospital pager was ringing incessantly. Sarada hadn't complained but an air of loneliness had settled over her the minute her mom left. She distinctly remembered the girl as the one who hopped out of the speeding Range Rover and felt another pang of sympathy. She liked Sarada despite how odd her parents were.

Boruto had never brought home a friend from school before so she hoped this little friendship would work. Unfortunately, for as many virtues as her son had, he also had his vices, and sharing was his crux.

"What happened doesn't matter." She said sternly and the two kids nodded. "What matters is that Hima's favorite two is now in two. Let's work together to fix it."

The small girl clinging to her legs sniffed pitifully and wiped a nose full of snot on her skirt. Boruto seemed to cave from his stubbornness at seeing his sister so distraught and the chip on his shoulder disappeared.

"Sorry Hima." He mumbled and Sarada nodded earnestly beside him.

Satisfied, Hinata picked her daughter up as well as the two halves of the teddy bear. They had a lot of work to do.

"Come on guys. Let's prep Mr. Bear for surgery."

All three kids brightened at this, and even Hanabi pulled herself out of her phone long enough to chuckle.

"I guess you really are too busy to date!"

Sixth Degree

Sasuke frowned as he fluffed a pillow on the couch. Things needed to look 'presentable' and Itachi wouldn't let him slide. Apparently tonight he would be meeting Itachi's illusive girlfriend and her sister. Well not 'girlfriend' yet but dang near close in his opinion. He hadn't met the woman, but he felt her presence all over the house the last month. From the thick textbooks she left on the coffee table to the yellow scrunchie wedge between the seat cushions on the couch. Lipstick on a wine glass of the copious amounts of long brown hair he found in random places.

One of the benefits of no longer having a wife was not finding pink hair all over his stuff but those days were over. Now it was brown strands on everything and only a matter of time before he had to look for a new place to stay. One could say he was being paranoid. His brother had only just met this girl; she could be here today and gone tomorrow.

He would have believed that to be the case if he hadn't gone into his brother's bathroom to grab a roll of toilet paper the other day. There he'd not only found what he was looking for but also two toothbrushes in the cup by the sink. Two. Curiosity got the better of him and when he looked in the shower there were girly soaps alongside his brother's generic body wash.

Sasuke was many things but he wasn't an idiot. This was the beginning of the end, and he would need to find his own place soon. It was for the best he supposed. On the weekends he had Sarada it would be nice for her to have her own room to sleep in. As much as Itachi loved Sarada his home was well…boring as his daughter put it. Not that he was much more entertaining to hang out with. When it came to his daughter she was a bit of an enigma.

Sometimes he wished she took on more of Sakura's open personality instead of being closed off like him. With a sigh he finished tidying up the living room. Maybe he could convince Sakura to let him have Sarada for the entire week and they could look at apartments together.

Ding Dong!

"Sasuke can you get that?!" Itachi yelled from the kitchen.

The man in question rolled his eyes. Itachi had no idea how to cook and today shouldn't have been the day to start trying. Yet another reason he needed to move out. If Itachi was trying to impress this girl and her sister, this was more serious than he expected. With thoughts of apartment prices and potential commutes to work in his head, he opened the front door. On the other side was a petite, dark-haired woman with her head turned towards the driveway. He followed her gaze toward his Range Rover and scoffed. It was a nice car but nothing to gawk at like she was doing.

His scoff seemed to bring her back to attention though because she quickly turned to look up at him. When she did all of his thoughts left his brain and his mouth went dry. It was all he could do keep his face impassive as he took in this woman. She was gorgeous, that much was obvious, but it was her eyes that made his heart skip a beat. Pale lavender eyes unlike anything he'd ever seen before. No wonder Itachi was crazy about this girl. Itachi- fuck!

He shouldn't be ogling his brother's girlfriend this way, no matter how attractive she was. She didn't seem to notice how tongue-tied he was either. She flashed an awkward smile and held out her hand for him to shake. He let it hang in the air untouched. There was no way he was going to touch this woman. That was a recipe for a disaster. He hand hung out there for a second too long before she slowly pulled back and cleared her throat.

"Um…hi! Has my sister arrived yet?" she asked and Sasuke cursed the gods above and the devils below.

Her voice was soft but had a melodic quality to it. Soothing. Motherly. Why the hell did his brother have to find her first? He shook his head and stepped aside to allow her to enter the house. As she walked past him he clenched his fist. She smelled amazing-no. He really needed to get out of the house more often. Work, home, and Sarada. That was all he had time for these days. Unfortunately, that seemed to culminate in him being ready to hit on the first attractive woman who crossed his path. He was better than this!

"I'm a little tied up here!" Itachi shouted from the kitchen. "Sasuke, entertain our guests. I'll be out shortly!"

Entertain her?! He really didn't want to be in the same room as this woman let alone entertain her. Besides she knew this place well enough to occupy herself. However, him continuing to live here rent-free for a little longer probably hung in the balance. Resolute to get along with the woman for now, Sasuke motioned for her to follow him into the living room. She looked as hesitant as he felt but followed him anyway. She sat tentatively on the black leather couch, those wide pale eyes taking in every detail of the room except for him. No, when her eyes locked with his she would immediately look away and find something more interesting to inspect.

"So," he started and she immediately jumped at the sound of his voice.

A small squeak escaped her lips and her face flushed a bright red. It was almost cute- no he wasn't allowed to think that way.

"Your name?"

"Hinata."

Hinata. The name was familiar but it didn't ring any bells. He quickly ran through a list of women he knew had a similar sounding name but none of them looked like her.

"No last name?" he asked and she seemed to bristle at his question.

"Uzu-" she started automatically but then took it back. "Hyuuga."

Liar. Her last name wasn't Hyuuga. She looked shifty, as if uncomfortable with being alone with him. Well, he wasn't Itachi and wouldn't let her get off easily. He wasn't so emotionally attached that he would look past her lies.

"How old are you?"

"Thirty and you?"

She was calm when she'd answer this time, unoffended as most women would be to be asked their age. She certainly didn't look thirty so that could be another lie or she could be telling the truth. Either way, he ignored the fact that she'd turned the question back on to him.

"Any kids?" he asked, and she raised an eyebrow.

He shrugged. The question was innocent enough. At thirty she likely had a kid just as he did though Itachi had never mentioned it.

"I have two."

"Two." He mentally shuddered. "That's a lot to handle."

He could barely keep up with Sarada when he had her and she was a very well-behaved child. Hinata smiled proudly and pushed some of her long dark hair over her shoulder. The innocent move exposed her pale neck. Long and slender. He had to tear his eyes away from the tempting sight. Was he truly this touch-starved?

"It's pretty easy until it's time for pick up and drop off at the school."

"I suppose."

"Is that your Range Rover outside?"

The question was out of left field and caught him off guard. Still he nodded and the look on her face changed from awkwardly polite to hard for a brief second.

"Why?"

"No…no reason." She said but her mask had slipped. He couldn't wait to make it fall more…

Just as he was about to prod more, the front door opened, breaking the tense atmosphere between them. Seeing the opportunity to escape, Hinata sprang up from her seat and hurried out of the living room. Sasuke followed her much more reluctantly, a bit put out by the interruption. Unfortunately he didn't get far because the moment he reached the foyer he ran into a frozen Hinata.

"What the- "he started, confused to find her not even phased by the collision.

His confusion only grew as he looked towards the front door to find his brother kissing another woman. Not just a light kiss either. It was as if they'd forgotten that two other people were in the house. Sasuke opened his mouth to interrupt them- the display was disgusting- but Hinata shook her head and pulled him towards the kitchen. The smell of something burning wafted up to his nostrils as they got closer.

Once in the kitchen, Hinata let go of his wrist and went to work removing the smoking pan off the stove and placed it into an empty sink. Seeing her snap to action made him think quickly, and he began opening all of the kitchen windows. The fan sizzled angrily in the sink as Hinata turned the water on, cause even more smoke to waft. She coughed as she tried to fan it with her hand to no avail.

Sasuke grabbed a rag before pushing her out of the way to fan the smoke away. The noxious fumes caught in his throat and made him cough as well. When things finally abated he scanned the destruction of the kitchen. Cracked eggs and flour splattered on the counter. Spilled seasonings. There was even meat sitting out in an unknown liquid- a marinade maybe? Sasuke wasn't sure but he certainly wasn't going to let Itachi feed them anything that came out of this kitchen. Itachi. The thought of his brother brought the distant slamming of a door upstairs and the coughing woman at his side. She was impossibly attractive even when flustered.

"So you're not the one dating my brother."

"No I'm not."

He smirked and tucked a lock of silky raven hair behind her ear.

"Good."